Report to Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member
for Strategy
21 November 2013
Subject:
Top of the Town Environmental Improvements
Status:
Open – routine matter for decision
Report Ref:
94/2013
Ward(s):
Eastrop
Key Decision:
Yes
Key Decision Ref:
849/SC
Report of:
Head of Community Services
Tom Landell Mills 01256 845763 or Ext 2763
Email: tom.landellmills@basingstoke.gov.uk
1. Summary of consultation
2. Plan of proposals
The council’s adopted Town Centre Programme and
Public Realm Guidance
Contact:
Appendices:
Papers relied on to
produce this report
SUMMARY
1
This Report
1.1
This report describes proposals for the renewal of the Top of the Town street
furniture and associated environmental improvements; provides a summary of
consultation undertaken; and seeks approval to release funding to undertake
the various improvement works within the Top of the Town area.
2
Recommendation
2.1
It is recommended that the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Strategy:
i.
notes the outcomes of the consultation exercise in relation to street
furniture and environmental improvements in the Top of the Town
area.
ii.
approves the release of £140,000 from the 2013/14 Town Centre
Improvements capital programme, for the implementation of street
furniture and environmental improvements, which comprise:
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Refurbishing the existing seats and benches.
Providing more seats/benches in a matching style where
practically possible.
Refurbishing the existing brick planters.
Using stand-alone black granite planters to provide more
planting where possible.
Removing the existing litter bins and installing new cast iron
style bins.
Replacing bollards with one black coloured style, which
matches the litter bins.
Cleaning and re-sanding the paviors within the Top of the
Town area.
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iii.
notes that affected frontage property owners/occupier will be
consulted in relation to the precise location of new seating and
planters.
iv.
subject to the identification of suitable additional funding (£37,000),
agrees to the replacement of the eight existing brick planters with
stand-alone black granite planters.
PRIORITIES, IMPACTS AND RISKS
Contribution to Council Priorities
This report accords with the council’s Budget and Policy Framework and directly
supports the Council Plan and Town Centre Programme priorities of improving
economic vitality, protecting our environment, and creating neighbourhoods where
people feel safe and want to live.
MAIN CONSIDERATIONS
3
Policy Background
3.1
The council has a long standing agenda which aims to enhance the Top of the
Town. The January 2013 update of A vision for Central Basingstoke Action
Plan states (in section A5 on page 12) “For many years there has been a
gradual deterioration in the environmental quality of the historic fabric (of the
Top of the Town”) with the following actions described: “Environmental
improvements such as to street furniture and landscaping are being
considered as part of the emerging Town Centre Programme for
implementation by March 2014.”
3.2
Funding was identified in The Medium Term Financial Forecast for 2013/14 –
2016/17 where the One-Off Capital Priorities New Funding identified
£180,000 for Town Centre improvements of which £140,000 is for
Environmental Improvements to the Top of the Town.
3.3
The Basingstoke Town Centre Programme was adopted by the council in May
2013. Whilst the programme is town-centre wide, it has a particular focus on
renewing Basingstoke’s Top of the Town to make it economically vibrant, in
line with other parts of the town centre. Action Point 4 in The Place theme
states that the council will “improve the street furniture, bins, signage,
benches, landscaping in public areas in Top of the Town by spring 2014”.
3.4
In September 2013 the council adopted Public Realm Guidance for
Basingstoke Central Area. This seeks to create high quality and well
considered public realm areas which improve the image of Basingstoke town
centre; and which support the delivery of Basingstoke Town Centre
Programme and the Council Plan.
3.5
As part of the Basingstoke Town Centre Programme, work is underway to
develop a strong and clear concept for the Top of the Town area. The first
stages of this have involved active engagement with the town’s stakeholders
in a workshop, and it is expected that the concept will be available early in
2014. Themes emerging in this concept work that are particularly relevant
relate to enhancing the public realm, making the most of the historic character
of the area, removing unnecessary visual clutter, and enabling events and
markets in the streets and Market Place.
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4
Proposals for consultation
4.1
A consultation exercise was undertaken during September and October 2013.
This comprised:
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an online questionnaire on the council’s web site;
emails to the Town Centre Forum with a link to the online
questionnaire;
a leaflet drop to all Top of the Town traders, shops and residents;
paper questionnaires distributed around the Top of the Town area at
various venues including the Tea Rooms, Willis Museum and Discovery
Centre;
an evening workshop to meet with Top of the Town traders; and
an all-day public exhibition held on market day in the Market Place.
4.2
Using these events the public and other stakeholders were consulted on three
suites of seating, benches and planters. These suites comprised a traditional
cast iron style, a contemporary metal style and a contemporary timber style.
These three styles are shown as photographs within Appendix 1. Consultees
were asked if they wanted more or less street furniture and planting and were
encouraged to identify any particular places where street furniture or planting
might be added or removed. As well as commenting on the three suites of
street furniture, the consultees were invited to mention anything else they
thought relevant.
4.3
In addition to the work above the following stake-holder groups were
consulted with directly:
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Disabled Forum,
Police,
Fire Brigade, and
Over 55 Forum,
4.4
The Heritage Society were invited to meet but preferred to respond as
individuals via the online and paper questionnaires.
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Summary of the consultation
5.1
Details of the outcomes of the consultation exercise are set out at Appendix 1,
along with a suggested way forward for improvements to seating, bins and
planters.
5.2
In summary, based on the consultation it is proposed to:
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Refurbish the existing seats and benches within the Top of the Town
area.
Provide more seats/benches in a matching style where practically
possible.
Refurbish the existing brick planters.
Use stand-alone black granite planters to provide more tree planting
where possible.
Remove the existing litter bins and install new cast iron style bins.
6
Detailed proposals
6.1
A plan outlining these proposals is provided in Appendix 2. This illustrates
indicative positions of existing and proposed street furniture.
6.2
The following sections provide a descriptive summary of the proposals.
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6.3
Seat and benches
6.3.1
It is proposed to refurbish the existing seating facilities in situ by sanding and
re-oiling the timber and painting the metal frames. Two additional new seats
are to be provided in Wote Street, one in Church Street, and three existing
benches In London Street, outside the post office, are to be replaced with two
new seats (with backs).
6.3.2
This work is estimated to cost £30,000.
6.4
Planters and planting
6.4.1
It is proposed that the eight existing planters are refurbished at an estimated
cost of £23,000. Refurbishment would comprise replacing the coping stones
to each planter, cleaning the brickwork, and replacing the planting within the
planter, including the provision of appropriately sized street trees.
6.4.2
To facilitate additional planting, the refurbished planters would be
supplemented with up to fifteen new black granite planters, at a further cost of
£27,000. These will be approximately 1.6m x 1.6m square x 0.7m high and
will be planted with semi-mature trees. New planters would be located along
Winchester Street and London Street; at the bottom of Church Street and in a
line across Cross Street.
6.4.3
Maintenance of planting during its first two years is estimated at £6,000. This
is essential to help ensure the proposed new trees establish. This
maintenance work would be carried out by the contractor installing the trees
and would ensure that any failure of the planting is borne by the contractor.
6.4.4
The new planter locations and the selection of the tree species will take into
account constraints posed by underground services and the CCTV system;
and, will be made in consultation with affected property owners/occupiers.
6.5
Litter Bins
6.5.1
Following a review of location and number of bins, the twenty-one existing
litter bins will be replaced by the same number of simple modern cast iron bins
at a cost of £24,000.
6.5.2
Work will be taken forward to introduce of strategically located litter bins that
incorporate re-cycling facilities and provide advertising opportunities. Various
recycling bin suppliers offer these arrangements to local councils, whereby an
appropriately designed bin is provided and sponsored by local companies.
The council benefits from this revenue generation. Such an approach needs
to be explored fully by officers; however, there is typically no capital cost to
the council for providing this type of recycling facility. Until such an
arrangement has been agreed with a supplier, the existing eight recycling bins
will be retained.
6.6
Bollards and paving
6.6.1
It is proposed to replace all the existing bollards within the Top of the Town
area with a single style that compliments the existing benches, new bins and
planters. All of the new bollards would be black in colour. This presents an
opportunity to remove any surplus bollards as part of a process of decluttering the street scene.
6.6.2
The timber bollards that delineate the access route from Joices Yard car park
to Haymarket Yard car park will be replaced and tactile paving introduced to
notify visually impaired of the hazard they face crossing this vehicular route.
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6.6.3
The number of bollards through the Top of the Town area would be reduced
from 45 to 25 to minimise visual clutter, with bollards removed from Cross
Street and the two ‘torch’ posts removed from Winchester Street.
6.6.4
The provision of new bollards, cleaning paving and paving repairs estimated
to cost £25,000
6.7
Miscellaneous works
6.7.1
Following on from recent works to remove chewing gum from the paved
surfaces, it is also proposed to ‘spring clean’ the whole paved area of the Top
of Town by jet-washing and general cleaning. After cleaning, the paving would
be re-sanded to replace any dislodged sand to maintain the pavements
structural integrity. A limited amount of new paving will be undertaken to
accommodate new seating and planting and replace broken paviors where
practical. This miscellaneous work is estimated to cost £5,000.
6.8
Summary
6.8.1
This project seeks to renew the street furniture and environment within the
Top of the Town area as part of the Basingstoke Town Centre Programme.
The proposals outlined above support and encourage street life with new or
renewed seating and new planting while de-cluttering and simplifying the
streetscape as far as is possible. The proposals take into account that the Top
of the Town is the historic part of Basingstoke and the centre of Basingstoke’s
night time economy.
7
Options Analysis
7.1
The public have been consulted on the choice of furniture and amount of
planting in the Top of the Town area; and the views expressed have helped to
direct officers in putting forward detailed proposals.
7.2
Officers have looked at removing the eight existing planters and replacing
these with the granite style planters. The additional cost of this is estimated to
be £37,000 (i.e. estimated at £60,000 minus the £23,000 refurbishment cost
of the proposed option). This cannot be accommodated within the existing
budget. Furthermore, repaving the areas once the original planters had been
removed would present difficulties as the pavior is no longer available.
Attractively patching these areas could be achieved by taking up blocks of
matching paving from elsewhere in the Top of the Town area and repaving the
borrowed areas with new paving, or introducing a new element into the
existing paving pattern to cover the exposed areas.
7.3
Both options would have a positive impact on the Top of the Town area;
however, removing all of the existing brick planters and replacing them with
new granite planters would introduce additional cost to the project. Although
this would create greater consistency in the area which is in line with the
Public Realm Guidance adopted by the Council, this option was not supported
through the consultation exercise.
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Corporate Implications
8.1
Financial Implications
8.1.1
The total estimated cost of the proposals outlined in section 6 above is
£140,000 which can be met from the Town Centre Improvements Capital
Budget within the Strategy Portfolio Capital Programme for 2013/14.
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8.1.2
Section 7 above proposes options at a further cost of £37,000. Currently
there is no budget available for this work. Therefore funding of this amount
would need to be identified and vired to this scheme before any work on this
option is commenced.
8.1.3
Additional planters will require watering to ensure that the proposed trees
establish and survive going forward. The revenue implications of maintaining
new trees are estimated at £1,500 per annum. This can be met from existing
maintenance budgets.
8.2
Risk Issues
8.2.1
There are no significant risks associated with the proposed way forward.
8.3
HR Issues
8.3.1
There are no HR issues associated with the proposed way forward.
8.4
Equalities
8.4.1
There has been extensive consultation on the proposals with input from a
wide cross section of the community, including the Disability Forum, whose
views have been taken into account with regard to height and position of
street furniture.
8.5
Legal Implications
8.5.1
There are no legal implications associated with the proposed way forward.
8.6
Any Other Implications
8.6.1
There are no other implications associated with the proposed way forward.
9
Conclusion
9.1
It is recommended that £140,000 is released for the implementation of street
furniture and environmental improvement works in the Top of the Town area,
as outlined in section 6 above.
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